This is Part 4 of 8 of my History of 3D Realms / Apogee series.  When originally published, it was a single post, but over time WordPress ended up not liking a post that was 33,000 words long.  This segment covers 1998-2005.

1998 was the first of the really slow years.  We had just a single release this year.  Was the first year that Apogee/3D Realms didn’t release a “new” title in the history of the company.   Was the first year we released anything as freeware, and the rest of the releases this year were patches of some sort.

Duke Nukem: Time to Kill

Release Date: 12 Oct 1998

Duke Nukem: Time To Kill is a console game for the Playstation 1.  It is the first non port Duke game for consoles.  It was written by the company n-Space, who had Dirk Jones on staff (formerly of 3D Realms).  In something unique, the game had a Deathmatch option.  The story was based around time travel, which allowed for different styles during the game play.  At the time, the game took some grief about being too similar to the original Tomb Raider game.

I personally was never a fan of the PS1 games, but this was quite popular with Playstation owners.  I should probably try and replay it sometime.  It has been out of print for a really long time now, and it’s hard to come by a cheap copy now.

There’s more to read about this game on Wikipedia.

We had a really amusing promotional item for this game.  It was a BBQ kit called “Duke Nukem: Time to Grill”.  It was never for sale, and I only ever remember one copy, which I took some pictures of in my office at the time.  Here’s some of those pictures.

Current Status: Unavailable, rights owned by Gearbox.
UPDATES: N/A
Links: [ Amazon.com Page | Legacy 3DR Time to Kill Page ]

1999 saw a few more Duke Nukem console games released, and a few more patches released for other games, too.

Duke Nukem: Zero Hour

Release Date: 1 Sep 1999

This was another original Duke Nukem game produced for the Nintendo 64 – it was not a port of Duke Nukem 3D.  It was done by Eurocom.  As the Nintendo 64 was the only Nintendo console I never owned (ever), I don’t have a lot of memories of this title specifically.

We have more to read about this game on the 3DR Legacy website, plus some more about the game’s plot on Wikipedia.

What I remember most about this game was the really funny TV commercial made for the game’s release. It has been embedded below.

Current Status: Unavailable, rights owned by Gearbox.
UPDATES: N/A
Links: [ Amazon.com Page | Legacy 3DR Zero Hour Page ]

Duke Nukem: Gameboy Color

Release Date: 10 Sep 1999

Duke Nukem: Gameboy Color is a port, but not of Duke Nukem 3D; it’s a port of Duke Nukem II.   It was written by Torus Games from Australia.   I never played this one, and it was produced pretty much totally out of our offices, so I have zero memory of this title.

While it’s supposed to be a port of Duke Nukem II, it has a graphical feel more of the original Duke Nukem game.  You can see some of this in a gameplay video on Youtube.

Current Status: Unavailable, rights owned by Gearbox.
UPDATES: N/A
Links: [ Amazon.com Page | Legacy 3DR Gameboy Color Page ]

2000 was another year with no original 3D Realms games released, just one Duke console game.

Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes

Release Date: 27 Sep 2000

Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes is an original Duke Nukem game for the Playstation 1 console.  The game was written by N-Space (again), and produced by 3D Realms.  It is a direct sequel to n-Space’s other game, “Time to Kill”.   In terms of game play it is slightly easier than Time to Kill, but graphically, it feels a lot like the prior game.   It’s not the same game, mind you, but the graphical style is similar.

Before this game was released, we were calling it “Planet of the Babes”, but we received a notice from the movie producers of the 2001 Tim Burton movie “Planet of the Apes”, threatening legal action.  In the end, we decided to change the game name to Land of the Babes.  There was a TV commercial produced when it was still called Planet of the Babes, you can check that out below.  There is also an archived print advertisement for the game shown below when it had the old name,.

There was also a strategy guide made for this game, and can still be found on Amazon.com.

Current Status: Unavailable, rights owned by Gearbox.
UPDATES: N/A
Links: [ Amazon.com Page | Legacy 3DR Land of the Babes Page ]

2001 was a year we finally got back into new games released from 3D Realms that weren’t some sort of farmed out console title.   We did release just a single game in 2001, but it was a huge one.

Max Payne

Release Date: 25 Jul 2001

Five years previous to this, Remedy Entertainment put out Death Rally, and folks wondered what would come next.  While it took a little bit of time, Remedy and 3D Realms released Max Payne in the summer of 2001.

This was unlike anything we had ever released before and was a quantum leap forward in storytelling and action from anything we ever released in the company history.  It was a third person shooter done in film noir style.  The story was written by Sam Lake of Remedy, who was also the “face” of Max Payne.

There was a decent amount of time spent watching exposition via “comic” panels in-between game play areas.  It sounds boring, but it is not, the story is written and weaved into the game play so well, you don’t care that parts of the game you’re basically reading a comic in the game.  They called them “Graphic novels”, however.  There’s a screenshot of one of them here.

The game’s combat was produced after the release of the original Matrix movie, and we were “inspired” by that mechanic and used it in the game.  We even called it “Bullet Time” in the game where Max would contort like Neo would.  One amusing story is that when we made Max Payne, we registered the term “Bullet Time”, because the Matrix movie people did not do that for a video game.   So when the Matrix people got around to making a video game, they could not call their bullet time mechanic “Bullet Time”, because we had trademarked the name in the world of video games.

The game was enormously popular, and we were STILL shipping game boxes out of our HQ at this point, but I believe this was the last one, though.  We were overwhelmed with orders, and we literally filled our offices (and the hallways) with shipping boxes waiting for the post office to come – it took a giant truck to get it all.

The game was later ported to other systems.  It first came out on Playstation 2 on 11 Dec 2001, then on the original Xbox shortly after that on 17 Dec 2001 (Europe got Xbox on 10 Mar 2002).  The following year the game was released on macOS on 16 Jul 2002.  It was released on the Gameboy Color on 16 Dec 2003.  The Gameboy Color version is a bit different due to the technical limitation of that platform. Later on it was released on mobile devices as “Max Payne Mobile” on iOS, Android, & Amazon Fire systems – on 6 Sep 2012.  3D Realms didn’t have anything to do with these ports, we just produced the original game.

Finally, in 17 Oct, 2008 a movie titled Max Payne was released with Mark Wahlberg in the title role of Max Payne, and Mila Kunis as Mona Sax.  The movie also had Olga Kurylenko, whose next movie was the 007 film, “Quantum of Solace”.  As a major James Bond fan, I liked having her in this movie.  The movie wasn’t well received, but I thought it had several moments that worked well.  It set up a sequel at the end, which is never happening.  :(

Current Status: Still available, but not from 3D Realms (see Max Payne 2)
UPDATES: 1.01 – 27 Jul, 1.02 – 9 Oct, 1.05 – 21 Jan 2002 (1.03 & 1.04 not released)
Links: [ Steam Page | 3DR Max Payne Page | Legacy 3DR Max Payne Page ]

Just two games in 2002, but both of them were Duke Nukem related.

Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project

Release Date: 21 May 2002

In 2002, we finally get back to Duke Nukem.  Ignoring console ports, it’s been six years since we released a new Duke Nukem game, and for this one we went back to the platform style of the first two Duke Nukem games in the early 90’s.  It’s not quite as 2D as that, it’s got a 3D look to it, so while it’s a platform game, it’s not exactly like Duke Nukem I & II.

The game was done by a company named “Arush Entertainment” in Arizona.   At the time we thought it was a great idea, a return to form for Duke Nukem’s roots while we worked on Duke Nukem Forever.   I still think to this day it was a great game, but it didn’t get a ton of attention.

It had several easter eggs to earlier Duke games, and also expanded on things.  Had the usual Duke tropes.  Weapons, pig cops, babes to rescue.  An interesting factoid – it was the final game released where Duke’s profanity was bleeped.  After this game, all subsequent new releases didn’t have any bleeped profanities.

Later on, the game was put out on Xbox LIVE Arcade – on 23 Jun, 2010.  While the original PC game is no longer available, it is still available for Xbox 360 (and it works on backwards compatibility on Xbox One, too).  The Xbox LIVE version was the first thing 3D Realms put out after I lost my gig there in May of 2009.   There was also a version released for macOS too that is still available, but may or may not run depending on what version of macOS you are using.

As I said earlier, I enjoyed this game personally.   It was a fun game, and one I completed twice even after it was released publicly, despite finishing it several times during development.  One interesting fact, the original first print of the retail box came with a Manhattan Project keychain.  Not all versions had that; it was an incentive to buy early.

Current Status: Still available on Xbox and macOS, but not from 3D Realms. Not available on PC.
UPDATES: 1.01 – 17 Jun 2002, 1.01 Demo – 1 Jul 2002
Links: [ Xbox Manhattan Project Page | 3DR DNMP Page | Legacy 3DR DNMP Page ]

Duke Nukem Advance

Release Date: 13 Aug 2002

We’re deep in the era of Duke Nukem ports, and with the Nintendo Gameboy Advance out, it was time to take Duke Nukem there, hence “Duke Nukem Advance”.   This game was done by Torus Games in Australia.

Given the more advanced (at the time) capabilities of the Gameboy Advance, it more resembled Duke Nukem 3D than most of the handheld versions of this era.  In 2020, it doesn’t hold up as well, but at the time, it was a great port.

Current Status: Not available, rights held by Gearbox.
UPDATES: N/A
Links: [ Amazon Page | Legacy 3DR Duke Advance page | Archive of Torus DNA page ]

2003 – Another single game year.

Max Payne II: The Fall of Max Payne

Release Date: 15 Oct 2003

After the very successful Max Payne from 2001, a sequel was all but assured.  I can’t remember when work began on Max Payne II, but it couldn’t have been that much longer after the release of the original.

From a plot standpoint, Max Payne was restored as a cop per the events of the first game, and was with Mona on a mission (hence the box art).   But in terms of gameplay, it was more of the same.  That’s not to say it’s the same as the first, things were refined, and graphics upgraded (including Max himself, the face was different in the second game).

It didn’t do near the sales that the first game did, which always puzzled me, as I thought this was both “more of the same” and “better” than the first.

Like the first Max game, this one was also released on Playstation 2 and the original Xbox.  The Xbox version was released on 26 Nov 2003, and the PS2 version was released on 3 Dec 2003.  As far as I can tell, there was no Mac version of this title produced.

An interesting behind the scenes story.  After the first Max Payne game, both Remedy and 3D Realms sold the franchise to Take 2.  Almost immediately, they hired both 3D Realms & Remedy back to make Max Payne II.  That’s what happened, but all Max Payne events after this had nothing to do with 3D Realms or Remedy. That includes the aforementioned Max Payne movie in 2008, the third game, “Max Payne 3” (2012), or anything in the future with Max Payne (even re-releases).  Due to this franchise sale, we had to stop selling Max Payne 1, and we never sold Max Payne 2 directly, it was a retail only title.

Current Status: Still available, but not from 3D Realms.
UPDATES: 1.01 – Oct 22, 2003
Links: [ Steam Page | 3DR Max Payne 2 Page | Official Max Payne 2 Website ]

2004 – The first of the two mobile phone only years.   While 3D Realms produced these titles officially, we had little to do with the creation of them.

Duke Nukem Mobile

Release Date: 15 Jan 2004

The first of the mobile Duke Nukem games released in 2004 & 2005.  The game was done by a company in Canada called “Machineworks Northwest”. This was not a whole lot like Duke Nukem 3D in terms of feel.  It feels more like Manhattan Project than Duke3D, or even the original two Duke games.

The game was available on certain Motorola, LGE, & Samsung phones.   Keep in mind this is 2004, so the types of phones are nothing like the smart phones of 2020.  There is list of what was available at the time on the Legacy Mobile game page, linked below.

Current Status: Not available, rights held by Gearbox.
UPDATES: N/A
Links: [ Legacy 3DR Mobile Game page ]

Duke Nukem Mobile (Tapwave)

Release Date: May 2004

The second of the mobile Duke Nukem games released in 2004.  This game was also done by “Machineworks Northwest”. This is a different type of game than the entry right before this, despite it having the same name.  this one uses art that looks more like Duke Nukem 3D (as you can see by the screenshot).

The game was available only on a device called “Zodiac Tapwave“.  I never played this game myself, so I have zero experience with it.

It was later re-released in 2005 (unknown date) under the title “Duke Nukem Mobile 3D”.

Current Status: Not available, rights held by Gearbox.
UPDATES: N/A
Links: [ Legacy 3DR Mobile Game page ]

2005 – Just one unique title released.   There was a second mobile game released, but it was just a rebranded game from 2004.

Duke Nukem Mobile II: Bikini Project

Release Date: Summer 2005

Of everything on this page, it is probably the one title I know the least about.  I never saw the game with my own eyes, I certainly never played it, and I never saw a box for it, either.

This one is a complete unknown to me.    If you’re reading this and you have a copy, please drop me a line, I have a few questions to ask.

Current Status: Not available, rights held by Gearbox.
UPDATES: N/A
Links: [ MachineWorks Northwest Site ]